Following Main and Hesse's hypothesis, several investigators have affirmed that frightened/frightening (FR) as well as particular atypical maternal behaviors are associated with infant disorganized and adult unresolved attachment. Here, for the first time, FR behavior was observed in (a) middle-class father-infant (n = 25) and independent mother-infant dyads (n = 50) and (b) a brief laboratory play session. In addition, relations between disorganization, unresolved attachment, and the six FR system subscales were explored. Paternal and maternal overall FR behavior was related to infant disorganization (n = 75, phi = .61, p < .001), and for a subsample where Adult Attachment Interviews were available (n = 32), to unresolved adult attachment (phi = .59, p < .001). At the subscale level, disorganized-FR behaviors were related to infant disorganization, but only for mother-infant dyads. Across the whole sample, both dissociative-FR and threatening-FR subscales were associated with infant disorganization. The dissociative-FR subscale emerged as the central predictor of infant disorganization and was the only subscale significantly related to unresolved attachment. The appearance of FR behavior in this 18-min play procedure suggests that FR probably occurs more frequently than previously suspected. The possible role of dissociative processes in unresolved adult attachment, disorganized attachment, and FR parental behavior is discussed.

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The authors evaluated the trait/state issues of harm avoidance in depressive-spectrum disorders and its predictive potential for antidepressant response. Subjects with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn; DSM-IV) major depressive disorder ( n = 39), dysthymic disorder ( n = 37), depressive personality disorder ( n = 39), and healthy control subjects ( n = 40) were evaluated with the Temperament and Character Inventory and the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) at baseline and after a 12 week antidepressant treatment period. Higher harm avoidance scores predicted lesser improvement in subjects with dysthymic disorder and major depressive disorder, as determined by lesser decrease in HDRS-17 scores. Mean harm avoidance scores in depressed subjects were consistently greater than those in healthy controls, controlling for age, gender and diagnosis. Mean harm avoidance scores decreased significantly in all depressive-spectrum disorders after treatment, but still remained higher than harm avoidance scores in control subjects. The present study reports that harm avoidance is a reliable predictor of antidepressant treatment in subjects with major depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder and that harm avoidance is both trait-and state-dependent in depressive-spectrum disorders.

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the developmental patterns of Cloninger's biogenetic character traits in subjects with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Study subjects met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised; DSM-III-R) criteria for BPD without comorbid axis I or II disorders, as determined by the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines-Revised, Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R, and Diagnostic Interview for Personality Disorders. The BPD subjects and age-and sex-matched healthy comparison subjects were initially interviewed for Cloninger's biogenetic characters and re-interviewed at an interval of 1 year for the following 3 years. There were significant differences in the developmental patterns of self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence between BPD and healthy comparison subjects (significant group by time interaction: repeated measures manova , F = 17.3, d.f. = 3,240, P < 0.001; F = 28.5, d.f. = 3,240, P < 0.001; F = 4.7, d.f. = 3,240, P < 0.01, respectively). The BPD subjects had less changes in character-related maturity with increasing age than did healthy comparison subjects. Post-hoc tests with Duncan's statistics revealed that subjects with BPD had significantly lower scores on self-directedness at all assessment time periods ( P < 0.01) and lower scores on cooperativeness at the second-year and third-year follow-up assessments as compared to healthy comparison subjects ( P < 0.01). The BPD subjects had a distinctively different developmental pattern of Cloninger's character compared to healthy comparison subjects. The character development of BPD patients was more fixed and immature than those of healthy comparison subjects.

There is a wide array of existing instruments used to assess childhood behavior and development for the evaluation of social, emotional and behavioral disorders. Many of these instruments either focus on one diagnostic category or encompass a broad set of childhood behaviors. We built an extensive ontology of the questions associated with key features that have diagnostic relevance for child behavioral conditions, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety, by incorporating a subset of existing child behavioral instruments and categorizing each question into clinical domains. Each existing question and set of question responses were then mapped to a new unique Rosetta question and set of answer codes encompassing the semantic meaning and identified concept(s) of as many existing questions as possible. This resulted in 1274 existing instrument questions mapping to 209 Rosetta questions creating a minimal set of questions that are comprehensive of each topic and subtopic. This resulting ontology can be used to create more concise instruments across various ages and conditions, as well as create more robust overlapping datasets for both clinical and research use.

Background A wide array of existing instruments are commonly used to assess childhood behavior and development for the evaluation of social, emotional and behavioral disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety. Many of these instruments either focus on one diagnostic category or encompass a broad set of childhood behaviors. We analyze a wide range of standardized behavioral instruments and identify a comprehensive, structured semantic hierarchical grouping of child behavioral observational features. We use the hierarchy to create Rosetta: a new set of behavioral assessment questions, designed to be minimal yet comprehensive in its coverage of clinically relevant behaviors. We maintain a full mapping from every functional feature in every covered instrument to a corresponding question in Rosetta. Results In all, 209 Rosetta questions are shown to cover all the behavioral concepts targeted in the eight existing standardized instruments. Conclusion The resulting hierarchy can be used to create more concise instruments across various ages and conditions, as well as create more robust overlapping datasets for both clinical and research use.